Las Vegas, NV– It didn’t take long for Ryan Garcia to render defending champion Mario Barrios both “horizontal and seeing double” with a right hand Saturday night in their WBC (147 lb.) title scrap on DAZN PPV and before an “all but” sold out crowd here at the T Mobile Arena.
SOME FOLKS HADN’T YET SAT DOWN
Bluntly put, in 27 seconds Ryan Garcia set the tone as Mario Barrios “never won a minute” of any round, let alone an entire round, as my card read 120-107 or 12-zip in rounds with a 2 point opening round as a result of the knockdown.
LARRY, CURLY & MOE WERE “JUDGING”
But it was so “one-sided” that Tim Cheatham saw it 119-109 (11-1 in rounds) while David Sutherland had it 12-0 in rounds or 120-107. And Steve Weisfeld, he gave the “not so” Super Mario two “welfare” rounds in tabbing the fight 118-109 for Garcia who is now 24-2, 20 KOs. Barrios falls to 29-3-2, 19 KOs).
FIGHTING FOR QUESTION @ MEDIA MEET
The one question I was able to sneak in amongst the You Tube Piranhas aka the 2026 boxing Media was, “Did he ever hit you with an effective shot?”
ANIMATED RYAN GARCIA RESPONDS
To which the new WBC welterweight champion answered, “No, no. He did counter me with one right hand when I was trying to do the ‘Mayweather Roll.’ I said, what am I doing? And I went back to the jab.”
TEAM GARCIA SWATS CRITICISM
Henry Garcia, father & trainer of the victor went on a tangent of sorts on those “hating” his son Ryan. In this instance, you got to see the “loving Dad” Henry in a “victorious and emotional” mode. And why not? I mean when you win 36 minutes of a 36 minute fight, you’ve made a statement.
SHAKUR STEVENSON & “KING RY” NEXT?
Reigning 140 lb. (jr. welterweight) champ Shakur Stevenson offered “excellent” commentary” on the DAZN PPV broadcast according to the retired HBO Godfather Larry Merchant. Appearing on the Sunday edition of Sports Byline USA’s, “Ring Talk Worldwide,” Merchant who celebrated birthday #95 a fortnight ago declared, “A Star Is Reborn.”
UNDERCARD WINNERS & NON-VICTORS
Gary Antuane Russell improved to 19-1 (17 KOs) with a UD 12 over #1 ranked Andy Hiraoka that I thought “unjust.” The Japanese based Hiraoka pressed the action the entire “second half” of the fight “hurting” Gary both to the body & head.
WILL “HURT” GARY PONDER REMATCH?
Andy drops to 24-1. EVEN if the right guy won, the scores of Glenn Feldman, Jack Reiss & Steve Weisfeld were “WAY TOO WIDE.” The WBA should order an immediate rematch.
MARTIN ALMOST “TURNED INTO GHOST”
Highly touted and once beaten Frank Martin (19-1-1, 13 KOs) was both “extended and exposed” in a 10 round Draw with talented non-puncher Nahir Albright (17-2-1, 7 KOs). Had Albright not “spit out” his mouthpiece at the exact moment heavily favored Martin was “wobbling.” Scores were 95-95 x 3.
“BULLY” MIGHT BE MISNAMED?
Nicknamed “The Bully” Bektemir Melikuziev (17-1 (17 KOs) the 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist of Uzbekistan essentially had “batting practice” with African Sena Agbeko (29-5, 23 KOs) before a TKO 7 ending. Pre & Post fight, “The Ultra-Nice Bully” was very fan and Media friendly!
LEIGH WOOD ENDS JOSH WARRINGTON?
On another Saturday DAZN broadcast from the UK, World ranked Leigh Wood (28-4, 17 KOs) bested AND probably retired Josh Warrington (32-5-1, 8 KO) with scores of 119-109, 119-110 & 117-111 in an all UK clash.
BOXING IN LATVIA ON DAZN TOO!
The third DAZN presentation on Saturday was topped by unbeaten middleweight Jevgenijs Aleksejevs (20-0, 10 KOs) who was “fortunate” to get a Majority Decision 10 with scores of 96-94 twice & 95-95 over Damiano Falcinelli (17-3, 7 KOs) of Italy in Riga, Lativa.
GET DAZN APP ON IPHONE OR ANDRIOD
I have DAZN on my IPhone, TV & MacBook computer. IT is where you “need to be” if you are a true diehard boxing fan!
Pedro Fernandez
Note: “Ring Talk Worldwide” is a syndicated radio talk show airing on Sports Byline USA that has been on the air 41 years! You can watch it Sat & Sun @ 11:06 AM PT on YouTube or Twitch.TV. In addition, Pedro is a multi-award winning writer whose career in journalism has taken him to 34 countries. He is also a former San Francisco Policeman and was a Nationally Ranked 4-time Golden Gloves boxing champion. Find Pedro on Facebook as RINGTALK.
